Right to disconnect laws split big business

Unions hailed the right-to-disconnect laws as a ‘cost-of-living win’ for workers but big business has questioned elements of the legislation.

Outgoing NIB chief executive Mark Fitzgibbon: ‘This is as much a challenge for business leaders as it is for policymakers and legislators.’ Picture: Hollie Adams

Business bosses are divided over the Albanese government’s ‘right to disconnect’ laws amid questions from corporate leaders about the need for such a workplace reform, as companies already have their own policies in place.

Unions hailed the right-to-disconnect laws as a “cost-of-living win” for workers as employees would be empowered to refuse unreasonable out-of-hours work contact, enabling greater work-life balance and reducing the burden of unpaid labour.

However, private health insurer NIB queried whether the laws were needed and if management just needed to show better leadership on the issue of after-hours contact.

“I know some unions would laugh at this, but I wonder if the right to disconnect needs to be codified, rather than instilled in tomorrow’s leadership as just good leadership and management practice,” said NIB chief executive Mark Fitzgibbon.

“This is as much a challenge for business leaders as it is for policymakers and legislators.”

Pubs and liquor operator Endeavour Group said the company had a flexible culture.

Chief executive Steve Donohue said the company was aligned “with both the letter of the law and the notion of the law”.

Endeavour Group chief executive Steve Donohue.

“I know a lot of our teams think about their jobs the way I grew up in the business, right? We working alongside one another, trying to achieve outcomes, and with that mentality and sort of consideration of care for one another. You can navigate these sorts of questions pretty easily if you try to ask yourself, what’s reasonable?”

Still, outgoing Bendigo Bank chief executive Marnie Baker said she strongly supported the right to disconnect for her workforce.

“I think about coming out of Covid-19, where your work and personal life blurred during that period of time,” Ms Baker said.

“I think there’s a real reset that’s sort of required here, and it should absolutely be at the choice of the staff member as to whether they disconnect or not.”  

Business leaders noted small gestures from staff and executives that were explicit about their working hours.

“It’s been an ongoing conversation for some time now; you’ll find a lot of our – especially senior leaders and managers – will have as part of their email sign-off,” Ms Baker said.

“They’ll talk about, ‘this is my hours and I don’t expect you to respond to this outside of your work hours’. We’ve had this in place for some time now.

“I’ve always said to people, ‘I don’t expect them to respond to anything I send them at any particular time’. A lot of the time I will delay my emails if I happen to be working outside of hours.”

Outgoing Bendigo Bank chief executive Marnie Baker.

Mr Fitzgibbon said the company’s default position was that workers could opt to work anywhere, subject to meeting health, safety and technological requirements, and attendance at the office was only needed when it was absolutely warranted.

“There’s a heavy onus on leadership at all levels to ensure that they identify when it’s warranted such as induction, pricing, meetings, etc,” he said.

“I believe we already have significant flexibility to people, which allows us to tend to non-work matters, family, sport and fitness.

“We haven’t gotten too deeply in the right to disconnect in a formal way, but certainly, leadership at all levels across the organisation has a respect for a lot of people’s weekends and hours.

“If I send a memo to an executive after hours, I’ll make it clear that there is no urgency to respond.”

Professional services firm PwC said it “supports a flexible approach to working, that enables our people to deliver for clients while maintaining a positive work-life balance. It’s something we continue to work on, as we strive to build a leading culture.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the laws would boost productivity and staff would likely be more loyal to their workplaces if working hours were better respected.

On Monday, opposition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume said the laws were “completely unworkable”.

“These are conversations that employers have been having with employees for many years now and we don’t need legislation to make sure that it happens,” she told Sky News.

Additional reporting: Eli Greenblat